A Look at the Oscar Race for Best Director: The Nominees, Who Should Win and Who Will Win

As part of Popculturology's Oscar Week, we're going to be breaking down the Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress characters. Today, we're going to look at the race for Best Director.

OK, let's talk about the elephant that once dated Jennifer Lopez in the room. The Academy snubbed Ben Affleck when it comes to Best Director. There's no way to sugar coat this one. There isn't a cute reason why it all might make sense. There isn't any way to justify the inclusion of Michael Haneke or Benh Zeitlin over the Argo director. Let's take whether or not Affleck should win Best Director out of the conversation for a second — the point here is that there's no way he should have been left off this list to begin with. Same goes for Zero Dark Thirty director Kathryn Bigelow. When the nominees for Best Director were announced, there was an audible gasp among the audience, a reaction that I shared in while sitting at my desk watching the ceremony. No matter who wins this award in 2013, the honor will always be in Affleck's shadow.

Head past the jump to check out all the nominees for Best Director, including their Oscar histories, who should win and who will win.

The Nominees for Best Director
Michael Haneke
Amour
Oscar history: First nomination

Ang Lee
Life of Pi
Oscar history: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, nominated for Best Director), Brokeback Mountain (2005, won for Best Director)

David O. Russell
Silver Linings Playbook
Oscar history: The Fighter (2010, nominated for Best Director)

Steven Spielberg
Lincoln
Oscar history: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1978, nominated for Best Director), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1982, nominated for Best Director), E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1983, nominated for Best Director), Schindler's List (1994, won for Best Director), Saving Private Ryan (1999, won for Best Director), Munich (2006, nominated for Best Director)

Benh Zeitlin
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Oscar history: First nomination

Who Should Win
Ben Affleck? Kathryn Biglow? See, this category isn't even fun now. The snubs heard 'round the Oscar world ruined Best Director in 2013. There's no way to have this conversation without being allowed to include two of the year's best directors.

Who Will Win
Steven Spielberg. It looks like the Lincoln director will take home his third Oscar this Sunday, joining his star, Daniel Day-Lewis, as he does the same. Out of all the awards, I'm probably the shakiest on this one, though. The combination of Affleck not being included with the fact that Affleck also won every major award leading up to the Oscars leaves us without any solid predictors of how the Best Director race will play out.